A Sea of Possibilities
by TurnAroundTime
Summary: A stray cat without a purpose, a lonely girl without a companion - perhaps a night of encounter can change them both.


**i wrote this fic for several reasons:**

**1. Because there is not enough Ookami-san fics out there**

**2. Because i like Ringo and i think she needs to be in a relationship.**

**3. Because i think Neko is cool, and too good looking to be left without partner.**

**So yeah, here's a big non-sense to cover for all of that. LOL!**

**Enjoy reading!**

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Disclaimer: I don't own Ōkami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

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**A Sea of Possibilities**

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The price of a clean conscience is often a complacent existence.

True, sleep without the torments of guilt is worth it, but the young gentleman aches for some activity in his life.

Months have passed since his debt was paid, and he has grown bored.

He is a lethal fighter in the field, but now all those skills he has honed have become pointless.

It is already night. Earth quivers with the cold darkness enveloping.

He yawns and considers the next couple of hours, before another uneventful day meets him

Normally, he takes on hooligans just to stretch his sleeping muscles. But they have become rare. Rumors of a cat-like creature prowling about, leaving criminals unconscious in his wake, has spread.

"Oh, what have we here?"

He sees from the tree a familiar, small sight, walking by the sidewalk.

"A young lady such as yourself, out at this hour without an escort? I expected better." He tells himself. More than her isolated state, her countenance tugged at the boy's conscientious nature.

A thrill spreads throughout his nimble, slim body, as a new form of purpose takes a peer into his life.

* * *

The price of a love supported is often a friendship restricted.

Inasmuch as Ryoko loves Ringo in no lesser degree, little red knows more than to take exclusive claim of her bestfriend's time – not when a hunter has shot her straight through the heart, amidst his imperfect, clumsy ways.

Ryoko's absence is weighing down on her, and although she was, is, and will always be willing to pay the price, she cannot deny the pain brought by the empty spaces beside her, in front of her, and behind her, like the street on which she now walks.

A shame she failed to check above her, where a nearby tree hosts the owner of a pair of watchful, green eyes.

She had just finished spying on a wolf and her hunter, making sure that Mr. Screw Up doesn't live up to his name, at least for one night.

As he attempted to be a gentleman, he ends up being an embarrassment. But she regarded him lovingly, as she giggles ever so slightly, just enough for him to hear and be content, and just enough for Ringo to conclude – he is a wreck, but more than that, he is in love.

More than enough reason to leave Ryoko to his care.

"Well hello there, Ms. Pretty, plump and juicy!"

A perverted voice growls through the darkness, and several figures form after it.

"Now, what would a young one such as yourself be doing alone in a place like this?"

Like this?

Figures – absentmindedness has taken her far, far enough into a dark alley where even the bravest don't brave. Ringo sighs.

And here she thought the street was empty.

"What a cute little thing!" one of them says, stepping closer and puffing smoke from his cigar, "I feel like I could eat you all up."

The way he licked his lips disgusted Ringo, and made her think he would literally eat her.

"What do you say, fellas? Shall we have our fill tonight?"

"Oh yes! It's been a while since I had a load off."

One of them is looking at her like she's a feast, drooling and eyeballing her from head to toe. Another has steam puffing out of his ears, clearly conjecturing porn in its vilest of form.

She is no stranger to pedophiles, but she has always found escape through clever means. That is, if Ryoko is not there to use brute force instead.

Will she resign?

Rape, robbery – she has fallen to neither, but she is always prepared. She IS helpless, and little, and defenseless, so it is expected to happen, one way or another.

Especially without Ryoko.

"Hah! Hah! Hah! Let's strip her now!" the ravenous one pants with each step.

Ringo sighs again.

If she survives this, she will be sore, she will be broken, and she will be incapacitated – physically, mentally, emotionally. But perhaps Ryoko will aid her in such brokenness, and she'll have a reason to spend more time with her.

_Oh well… Let's get this over with._

She closes her eyes and braces for the worst.

It did not come.

The panting had stopped.

The surrounding feels void of life again.

She hears clattering sound, and pounding, and groans of pain, but no advances.

When she opened her eyes, several grown men were piled on top of each other, all badly beaten.

On top of the unconscious mountain of bodies, a handsome cat stood, grinning proud and triumphant.

"Begging your pardon miss," he says, removing his hat in a bow, "but I doubt you require the attention of these scallywags."

* * *

His boring night has taken a turn, and her space felt just a little bit less empty.

In the silence of their walk, they feel a peculiar doze of comfort.

Odd, considering they are strangers. Beyond their quick encounter before, they have little knowledge of the other.

But he knows her to be Ryoko Okami's bestfriend.

And she knows him to be the boy who trained Ryoshi Morino.

Perhaps that is enough to cross the borders of being strangers.

But can there be something more?

"Thank you." she said, head turning towards him.

He gives her a toothy grin. "All in a day's work, madam. Or night, in this case."

She giggled, and the sound of it delighted him somehow. "So formal. The name's Ringo Akai. You are Neko, are you not?"

"Saburo Nekomiya, to be precise, but yes, I prefer to be called Neko."

"The name suits you." She giggled again. "You can call me Ringo."

"Ms. Ringo…"

"Nope. Just Ringo. 'Miss' sounds too – awkward."

As mature as he is, he still found himself blushing before speaking thus.

"Very well: Ringo."

Her name spoken through another person's lips sounds strange to her, but she lets such strangeness linger, hoping to understand it.

"Shall I carry your bag for you, Ringo?"

"No thanks. I feel less anxious with it in my arm."

"I see. I trust I am not the cause of such anxiety."

He takes a few paces back with the proceeding steps, increasing the distance between them. The girl smiles at him sweetly.

"On the contrary," she says, "after your feat back there, I feel more secure now than I would have with a couple of cops. So no, you are not the cause."

"I'm glad."

Silence covered the rest of their journey. He decided he would accompany her home, and she allowed it – not his usual offer, nor her usual acceptance.

Beyond the wordless company, Neko finds himself suddenly fixated on the pint-size beauty beside him – not for the looks, but for the expression.

He remembers this girl to be headstrong and willful. She now seems disheartened.

"Excuse me."

Before Ringo could turn her head, he was gone.

But it wasn't long before he came back, a single stem of flower in hand offered to her.

"For you, my lady."

Ringo almost matched the color of her hair as she blushed and giggled inwardly. She takes the flower from his hand and continues to walk, twirling said flower and smelling it.

"Thanks. How sweet of you." the smile on her face is one of mischief and embarrassment. She knows the cat is coy, but she does not know his buttons, so she feels she is in a thrill ride.

"And now that I managed to place a smile on your face, I must think of a way to keep it there."

Both their faces soften as thoughts begin to process. He keeps sight and mind on her, while she turns her face in front, obviously registering his gesture as an attempt to cheer her up.

He has read through her easily.

"It doesn't take much to make me happy." She says, making the young boy assume she is coaxing a confession from him.

"Ah, but what would make you GENIUNELY happy? Hm?" he gives a brief pause, and a second thought, before continuing, "Ookami-san, perhaps?"

Little red's head turns a smile up on the grinning boy. "You were following me."

"Guilty. I have been, since you entered Dark Alley."

"That is considered 'stalking' you know."

"Surely, a person who secretly spies on the well-being of her best friend's first date would not begrudge me the right to stalk, especially if it stands as a price for said person's safety."

He has struck a chord, judging by her surprised reaction. This would surely go deeply wrong if she doesn't respond in a positive way.

"You miss her." He says.

"More than you know." She answers.

"I'm sure she's missing you too."

"Not as much. She has Ryoshi."

He was about to ask 'And what does little Ringo have?', just for jest, but that would be uncalled for and insensitive.

"And I have nothing." She says, surprising the cat with an answer to an unspoken question.

"That sounds self-inflicting. You DO have a lot."

The girl's eyebrow turned quizzically, so the boy is left to justify. "That is, Ringo is a girl with talents and brains wrapped around a pretty little package. I would not count that as nothing."

Ringo blushes again from the compliment, but manages to keep a hold on her own words.

"You sound like you know me, Neko."

"Do I? I'm sorry. I'm being too straightforward, and too presumptuous. I know only so much about you."

At that, Ringo's mind turned bright with a thought. She places a finger on her chin, and then finally asks. "Speaking of such – am I right to, well, _presume_, that you too fell in love with my darling wolf?"

The normally coordinated and well-balanced cat found a source of disorientation from such question. Though hidden under his hat, the question burned thousand shades of flusters across his face.

"Goodness," he says, stilling his heart, "I wonder where such question came from."

Ringo snickers from the reaction. His IS a cat, fun to toy around with.

"Sorry. Too straightforward."

Neko looks down at her, and decides her smiling, dimpled face suits her more.

He grins, and takes his turn to look afar, while expectant and thrilled Ringo awaits for an answer, "Love? Too complex a term. I may act like this, but I am not as old as I speak."

"Definitely not as young as you look, but I'm not the one to talk. Go on."

"Perhaps you can call it a 'crush', or a childish infatuation brought by endless nights of haunted visions – visions of her beaten form and struggling face – and the nightmares that followed, knowing full well I was the cause of her pain."

Memories are swords that cut through denial with the bitter truth – Neko has considered it thus.

But for Ringo – memories of her bestfriend prevent the empty spaces in her life from consuming her, so she holds on to them.

"In a way she has given me purpose, a reason to be what I am now. Unfortunately the purpose is short-lived - meaningful, but short - and now I find an empty space in my heart."

Ring just nods. Neko fells that she understands.

"But," he continues, "I suppose I DID fell in love with her, in my own way of course. Not so different from yours."

"Perhaps."

She hangs the possibility, and decides to drop the subject. Neko catches as much, and allows a new kind of possibility with a new subject to find its way in his nugget.

His face is turned in front, but his eyes are on her, watching, gazing, and appreciating.

Under the blanket of moonlight his nocturnal eyes soaks up the very sight of Ringo Akai – undeniably beautiful.

Her free small hand sways by her side. He can easily assess, despite the meager amount of flesh exposed from her shoulder down, that this girl has wonderfully smooth, soft skin.

And the hypnotic, gentle scent of vanilla – his eyes blur in wafting such delightful smell.

Then he realizes he is taking in a girl's scent.

Neko blushes. The thoughts got dismissed as quickly as it came, and he found himself pulling the hat lower to hide the shameful traces of boyish perversion he foolishly catered. He is a gentleman after all.

But beyond appearances, it is the eyes that pull on his curiosity. The light shade of crimson deepens further in, like a curtain veiling something mysterious. It intrigues him that someone of her stature actually hides an enormous enigma beneath the deviant covers of her orbs.

What are your secrets, Ringo Akai?

"So you stalk a girl, and you secretly stare at her. I thought you are a gentleman." She says playfully.

"I do my best to be so. But a curious boy, walking beside an interesting girl – can I be blamed?"

"I am flattered that you find me interesting, but I – EEP!"

She trips.

His reflexes respond. He catches her, a hand for her to hold, an arm to secure her shoulder.

She looks up, squinting a bit. He looks down, filled with concerned.

Both their faces, a breath away from each other, turn red, and hot, and wide-eyed with expectancy.

Too soon?

"Sorry." She whispers, a meager hint of tea moistened with her breath.

"Nothing to it." he answers in the same soft and shy manner. "May I - "

He falters a bit, hesitant. Unlike his feline affinities, his curiosity is balanced by caution.

"May I keep hold of your hand?"

Ringo's eyes widen further from that request. She is unable to stop her lips from curving up slightly. "I would like that, but…"

But what?

"…I'm afraid this is already my stop."

The boy looks to his side, and sees the grand building of the ladies' dorm. He sighs, completely disheartened, but not severely, and definitely not devoid of hope.

He lets his grin decorate his face, as he takes his sweet time appreciating the tiny, soft fingers in his paws. She feels so delicate.

Beneath his wide hat Ringo can still make out such a childish expression of contentment on his handsome features, while he continues to stroke her fingers. Her face turns hot, and she begins her complaint. "Mr. Nekomiya," she says, placing a free hand on her cheek, "You're making me blush."

Neko himself gets flustered, but the grin never left, nor did the playful leap in his heart.

"Apologies, my lady." He whispers, and then plants a soft kiss on her clustered fingers. The redness spreads further on her face.

"Thank you for walking me home."

"It was my pleasure. But I do require some sort of compensation – a gentleman's reasonable request, of course, after saving you and keeping you company."

"Sure. Name your request." She says.

"It's simple, really - allow me to keep you company more often."

She cannot but be surprised. His presence is more than enough to keep her safe – it is also enough to erase the emptiness brought by Ryoko's absence.

"We can arrange that." She says, smiling knowingly.

Neko tips his hat to her, "Excellent. I bid you good night then, my lady."

"Night. Oh, and by the way, Neko -" she calls him just as he was about to leap out of sight, and pulls out the flower he had given her.

Her eyes turn mischievous as she walks towards the lad, making sure he pays attention. She then places the flower on her face, glazing the sweet petals with a brush of her lips and a touch of her tiny nose.

Neko watches thoughtfully, confused, and at the same time mesmerized.

"Sorry, but I'm not the flower-type of person, so I'm afraid I have to give this back."

She hands the flower to Neko with cheeks tainted with red.

"Good night, Neko!"

The slightly dumbfounded lad remains standing there, even after Ringo's retreating form has left his sight.

He raises the flower on his face, and feels that same fluttery sensation inside.

Later that night;

Ryoko had spent the night's romance awfully well, judging by her sighing and smiling and staring. They chatted for a while, she and Ringo, more about Ryoko's part, and then went to bed.

But Ringo's eyes refuse to close, and her lips refuse to erase that smile. Her heart feels too restless to mellow down, bothered by the gentleman with a sneaky charm, distracted by the lips that adorned her fingers.

Meanwhile, in a tree right beside the dorm, sitting on a branch, said gentleman fancies little red and her childish beauty.

In his hand is the flower, a gift returned to the giver.

A symbol of rejection? No.

A gesture of affection.

For now the flower holds not only its own natural scent, but also the scent of delightful vanilla, marked by the delicate lips that glazed its petals.

They both sigh in their own happily defeated way, surrendering to a unique transition in their life. Her acceptance of another beyond Ryoko, and his search for purpose beyond paying a debt.

Neko gives the small flower a kiss, while Ringo does the same with the untraceable mark of his lips on her fingers.

Tomorrow holds a million possibilities.

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_the end... _

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I got the flower part from a poem we studied in high school. I'm terribly sorry, but i forgot the author and the poem itself. Maybe you can fill me in on this one?

Anyway, I know that this story is very unlikely to happen, and there's not much sense into the progression, but i just thought, oh what the heck, lets mix this two together, I'll be deathly cute.

Lastly, read and review - it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


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